The University Grants Commission (UGC) published a public notice on Friday, November 4, inviting comments and suggestions on the Draft University Grants Commission (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2022. This fresh draft was also published today on the UGC website and shared with EdexLive by UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar. The draft contains a set of regulations to regulate the process of institutions of academic excellence as Deemed Universities.
Background
On February 20, 2019, the University Grants Commission published the University Grants Commission (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2019 in the Indian Gazette. The regulations were designed to uphold the standards of higher education provided by these Deemed to be Universities following the notion of a University.
However, with the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, higher education has witnessed a significant transition. Thus, to align the University Grants Commission (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2019, with the NEP 2020’s policy, UGC has changed the regulations.
“Higher education in the country is going through a major transformation….UGC has reframed/modified the University Grants Commission (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2019 to make them in tune with the broader policies of higher education as contained in the NEP, 2020,” says M Jagadesh Kumar in the statement shared with EdexLive.
Release of public notice inviting comments and suggestions
A public notice was released today, November 4 inviting comments and suggestions on the Draft University Grants Commission (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2022. The draft regulations come with the notice attached which includes the email dtbu2022@gmail.com, to which, stakeholders can send in their opinions by November 18, 2022.
The regulations
A few of the important regulations mentioned in the draft University Grants Commission (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2022 are that the institutions should be in line with the National Education Policy 2020. NEP significantly altered India’s education policy replacing the previous National Policy on Education, 1986. Following the policy, the regulations also made it a must for the institutions to be multidisciplinary with at least five departments (either UG/PG/Integrated/Research or a combination of these).
“Multi-disciplinary Institutions with minimum 5 Departments (either UG/PG/Integrated/Research or a combination of these) or a Cluster of Institutions offering a minimum of 5 Departments (either UG/PG/Integrated/Research or a combination of these) located in the same city/town will be eligible to apply for Deemed University status,” reads the released statement.
It further introduced the “Distinct institution” category, replacing the “De Novo” category. Distinct institution refers to an existing institution or an institution that is being established to focus on teaching and/or research in distinct disciplines and/or addressing the strategic needs of the nation, engaged in the preservation of Indian cultural heritage or preservation of the environment, dedicated to skill development, dedicated to sports or languages, or dedicated to any other discipline(s), as determined by the Expert Committee of Commission, will be co-sponsored. For these institutes clause (iv) reads: “The eligibility criteria is NAAC ‘A’ grade with at least a 3.01 CGPA for three consecutive cycles or NBA accreditation for two third of eligible programmes for three consecutive cycles or in top 50 of any specific category of NIRF for the last three years continuously or in top 100 of overall NIRF Ranking for last three years continuously.”
Apart from these here are a few other important features of the regulations:
1) The governance structure will be similar to central universities.
2) Admissions shall be based on merit in the entrance exam conducted by a Government Testing Agency or the Deemed to be University and as prescribed by the appropriate statutory authority, wherever applicable.
3) The fee shall be fixed transparently keeping in view non-profiteering/ non-commercial aspects. The Deemed to be University may provide fee concession/scholarships or may allocate some seats to meritorious students belonging to socially and economically deprived groups of the society.
4) Deemed to be Universities will be eligible to establish/start off-shore campus centre(s) as per UGC Regulations on the subject.
5) In case of violations of the UGC Regulations, graded penalty has been introduced. The penalty includes a warning through public notice, barring from any expansion, closure of programmes/ departments/ off-campus(es). In case of repeated violations, withdrawal of Deemed University status.
